Snowpack

Happy New Year to all.  Let's check in on Alaska's snowpack at the turn of the year.  It's a mixed bag, but generally snowfall has been much less abundant than in the Fairbanks area (relative to normal), according to ERA5 estimates:

Fairbanks has 22" of snow on the ground, according to the official measurement, and that's towards the upper end of the historical range for the time of year - although there was much more (34") on New Year's Eve in 2021.  The SNOTEL sites in the hills above Fairbanks are reporting about 150-200% of normal snow water equivalent, and the Mt Ryan site (2800' elevation) has been at record high snowpack since late October (only recently dropping behind the 2021 trajectory):

In contrast, there is a real dearth of snow across the Seward Peninsula and across nearly all of southwestern and south-central Alaska.  We have to go back to 2016 to find so little snow in late December for southwestern Alaska; but in that case the shortfall was much greater statewide:

Anchorage has 8" of snow on the ground, a lot less than the last two years, and the least since 2019 on New Year's Eve.  A number of SNOTEL sites around South-Central are reporting well under 50% of normal SWE - see below.  Let's hope this situation doesn't worsen in the weeks and months ahead.